Twins, Puckett End Talks

Wednesday's notebook

May 28, 1992

THE MINNESOTA Twins and Kirby Puckett have broken off contract negotiations for now. The talks have been tabled at least until later in the season. Puckett, an All-Star center fielder, can become a free agent this fall. Puckett: ''We're not talking. We're done until the end of the year. There's nothing more to say.'' He is in the final season of a 3-year, $9 million contract that once made him baseball's highest-paid player. Since then, almost 70 players have passed him. He's again seeking to become one of the game's highest-paid players at more than $6 million per season. Puckett is asking for a 5-year contract, but the Twins want to guarantee just four seasons.

TIGERS PUT KING ON DL

DETROIT PLACED right-hander Eric King on the 15-day disabled list with an inflamed rotator cuff and called up outfielder Phil Clark from Class AAA Toledo. King was 2-4 with a 7.51 ERA in nine starts. His place in the Tigers' rotation will be taken by Kevin Ritz, a right-hander who is 0-0 with a 6.08 ERA in 23 2/3 innings of relief work.

WHO'S HOT . . .

ALBERT BELLE of Cleveland has hit five home runs in 13 at-bats during a span of four games. That surge came after he went 82 at-bats without homering. . . . Felix Jose is batting .378 with 24 RBIs in 24 games since coming off the disabled list for St. Louis. . . . Seattle's Dave Fleming has won six consecutive decisions. He's 6-1 and leads all rookies in victories. . . . Atlanta's Otis Nixon has 34 hits in his last 85 at-bats (.400).